Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-02-22

Contrasting Those Of the Present
with Ebose of the Past.

Contrasting Those Of the Present
with Ebose of the Past.
NEW YORK, Feb. 19.-Within year
l have seen the oldest and the
newest sleeping coaches, the remote
past and the near future of railroad
travel at night. What contrast the two
PRESENT. If any one is disconnected vito
the perambulatiug chest ofdrawers called
sleepers, in which travelling folk are
poked at night, let him or her take a
ride on one of the original sleepers that
our fathers thought were luxurious. L
ran across an early Pullman somewhere
In the Blue Ridge mountains in South
west virginia. 1t was low and narrow,
and dark and stuffy. Itwas also yerte-
6rated creature that woDbled and creaked
and moved in all directions like a ships
compass, only not willingly as compass
does, but with ungracious bumps and
lurches. 1t had little windows that you
could look out of only by bending double,
and narrow passage walled in by iron
rods, one reaching to the roof from the
BACK OF every seat. On these poles the
upper berths were hitched when ready
for bedtime. When the upper berths were
smut up they were not much more out OF
the way than when they were down. The
lower berths were narrow ard so snort
ludL Ou uhu 10 lie III OI0 Fllhc o NAH
opened pocketknife, with your knees in
the air and the bedclothes pushed up like
tent. You did not need to be pious in
order to thank heaven when you got out
of that car. You did it, whether or no
Yet Daniel Webster would have deemed
IL marvel of comfort. l am willing he
should.
The other day in Montreal l saw the
| new rolling stock on the Canadian Pacific
ruf lxxo ItNtn 4 NJ
| sight at the carnival. II was strange to
lind in Canada the best equipped road on
| the continent, but then it must be re-
| mem0ered that 1t is the newest one, that
| 1t is very rich, and that it is otficered by
| Yankees. the new cars also came from
| the States-from Ohio, l think. The
sleepers are built of mahogany outside
and satin wood, lavishly carved by hand,
inside. The upholstering is magnificent.
| The berths are six feet long and nearly
four feet wide. The lower ones make up
into seats as broad as Turks divan.
| There are windows in the upper as well
as the lower Derths, and each tier OF berths
| has its own curtains, so that one does not
have to expose the sleeper in the. lower
| berth in order to become one in the berth
overhead. There is a bathroom and a
bath tub in each coach. l look upon these
| new cars as prophetic of the time soon,
a-coming when every man in the States
| may not only boast tnat he is king, but
| may ride like one, for surely we are
not long to be outstripped by foreign
| railroad
The ordinary first-class coaches Of this
trans-contineLtal line are equally in
advance of the old-style cars. Each one
| has a washroOm of the Pullman pattern,
and in each there is little box in one
corner presided over by a darkey boy,
who has just room to turn around in
between his china cupboard and his two
oil stoves and boilers. He serves hot
coffee, tea, chocolate, rolls, eggs and
oysters in every style, and milk sand
wicheS, fetching them to the passengers
in their seats. Each car holds fewer
seats than ours, but these seats are very
broad, and so low-backed that one may
sit sidewise and rest ones arm or elbow
easily on the back.
| But, strangest to me-though the idea
| may be mossgrOwn chestnut to others
were the emigrant sleepers. These are
like Pullmans in the rough. They are
regular sleepers In plain ash, without
bedding. cushions, curtains or upholstery
OF any sort. You can turn hose on in
side one OF these sleePers and clean it out
as if it were a stable yard. A berth in
one is a mere bedstead, plain and simple,
and the emigrants may sleep in their
berths with bundles under their heads for
| pillows, or they can buy mattresses and
] pillows from the station agents. A mat
tress and pillows on Canadian road
| costs csc. Not a wonderful example OF
comfort, you say. No, but it puts the
| Door emigrant ahead of the richest of our
| grandtathers, after all.
JULIAN RALPH.